


No Place Like London

by CecilWolford



Category: Sweeney Todd (2007)
Genre: 18-year-old Toby, Alternate Ending, Bisexual Female Character, F/M, Gay Male Character, Gay male characters, M/M, Original Character(s), sweeney doesn't die
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-13
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-09-07 22:14:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8818162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CecilWolford/pseuds/CecilWolford
Summary: Toby, now 18 years of age, continues to help Nellie in the shop, despite what had happened all those years ago. Of course, certain things happen and Toby is forced to patch things up with the demon barber who resides above the shop.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So I noticed how there were barely any Sweeney/Toby on here. Actually, I only managed to find one. Thanks google. Anyway, I'm going to try my best on this and we'll just see how it all goes!

It was a rare, sunny day in London and Mrs. Lovett's pie shop was running smoothly. It was the week, so only a few customers had come in, but it still brought the shop more money than Nellie thought it would.  
"Toby, could you come in here?" Nellie asked as she opened the door to the open dining area. Toby looked up and stopped washing the table he was working on to follow the Mrs. Lovett back into the shop.  
"Have a seat, lad," Nellie said and Toby sat down at one of the booths, ready to listen to what the woman had to say.  
"Mr. T, you can step in now."  
Toby's heart jumped when he saw the older man step out from the shadows behind Mrs. Lovett and he moved back in his seat a little. Sweeney simply glared at Toby from his spot leaning against the wall while Mrs. Lovett began talking.  
"I know that there is tension between the two of you and I want to get rid of it. Toby, you're old enough to understand why we did what we did, right, love?"  
Toby slowly nodded his head, despite his brain screaming at him to shake his head and book it out of there.  
"Good. And Mr. T, you understand why Toby acts the way he does around you?"Mrs. Lovett asked as she looked over at the barber who nodded his head with a small grunt.  
"Excellent! Now, I'm going to be out for a while to do some shopping and while I'm gone, I want the two of you to at least try to talk to each other," Mrs. Lovett said as she grabbed the small bag the held her money off of the counter where the pies used to be made.  
"Ma'am, c-could I come with you?" Toby asked and Mrs. Lovett sighed as she shook her head.  
"I'm afraid not, deary, I need you to stay here in case anyone comes in for a pie," she replied before walking out, leaving Toby and Sweeney alone in silence. As Toby opened his mouth to say something, Sweeney stomped over to the side door and walked out of the shop, making sure to slam the door shut as he left. With a sigh, Toby dropped back down into a booth and put his face in his hands. There was no way that this was going to work, no way in hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This short ass prologue me longer than I would've liked to finally finish it and I'm kinda pissed at myself by how shitty I still think this is. -.-


	2. A New Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters may get shorter as this progresses, but I'll try to make them as long as I can.

Toby sighed as he watched the last customer leave, slamming the door behind him and making the boy cringe.  
"Stupid fat man," Toby muttered as he walked over to the door and flipped the sign from 'Open' to 'Closed'. Toby yawned and slid into a booth, laying his head down and closing his eyes. Mrs. Lovett had returned in the middle of rush hour to tell Toby and Sweeney that she was going to be helping out an expecting friend of her's for a few days while she got ready for her child to be born. So Toby would be left with Sweeney for god knows how long. _Wonderful._ With another yawn, Toby pushed himself out of the booth and walked over to the stairs that lead up to the second floor where his bedroom was.  
"What're you doing up here?" Sweeney's voice echoed and Toby screamed a scream of terror as he spun around to see Sweeney leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes narrowed.  
"M-My r-room is up h-here," Toby stuttered as he pressed himself back against the wall, trying to get as far away from the older man as possible.  
"Where's Mrs. Lovett?" Sweeney asked, changing the subject.  
"S-She'll be gone for a while, helping a f-friend," Toby replied and Sweeney sneered at the young boy before turning away from him and heading back into his room, slamming the door behind him. Toby quickly ran into his own bedroom and locked the door behind him after shutting it. Of course, it didn't stay that way for long when he heard loud screaming from outside. The boy threw his window open and looked down at the back alley to see a man pinning a screaming and crying woman to the brick wall. He knew he shouldn't get involved, but the woman seemed to be extremely terrified of the man in front of her.  
Sticking the bottom half of his body out of the window, he dropped down onto the slanted roof and slid down to the ground.  
"Hey, let go of her!" Toby shouted at the man who only sneered at him before going back to the woman who was still crying with thick lines of tears running down her cheeks.  
"Let go or... or I'll get the police!" Toby shouted and the man laughed.  
"What makes you think they're gonna do anything?" he asked as he wrapped his hand around the woman's thin neck.  
Toby's hands balled into fists and he ran at the man and swung a right hook, catching the man in the jaw and sending him flying back.  
"Go away and don't come back here!" the boy shouted as he stood in front of the woman who had stopped crying when Toby's fist had connected with the man's face. The drunkard scrambled to his feet and ran away yelling for the police. When Toby turned back to face the woman, he was enveloped in a tight hug that was nearly suffocating.  
"Thank you! Thank you so much! Oh, I don't know what would've happened if you would not have come along!" the woman - er -  _girl_ exclaimed. Up close, Toby could see that the girl was clearly younger than him by a couple years.  
"Oh, y-you're welcome, Miss," Toby quietly replied. "Um, would you like to come in? We just closed, but I'm sure I could get you a meat pie; free of charge."  
"Yes, please. I'm Marie, Marie Baker," the girl - now Marie - said and Toby smiled at her.  
"I'm Tobias Ragg, but you can call me Toby. It's a pleasure to meet you, Marie," he said in reply before ushering Marie into the pie shop where he sat her at a booth and went down to the basement to fetch a fresh pie from the oven. He carefully pulled one out from the oven, which had been turned off, then headed back upstairs with the pie on a clean plate. When he sat the pie down in front of Marie, he sat down next to her as well and sparked a conversation.  
"So, did you know that man?" Toby asked and Marie nodded her head.  
"He was an old client of my father, who's a doctor, and when he thought he got ripped off, he tried to take it out on me."  
"That's horrible. He didn't...do anything before I got there, did he?" Toby asked and Marie shook her head this time. "Well, good. I wouldn't want to go after him again."  
Marie giggled. "You don't look like the fighting type."  
"I'm not," Toby confessed, "I wasn't raised to be that way. I was always the one the violence was thrown on."  
"By who?" Marie asked as her expression became one of worry.  
"It was a man who got me from the workhouse when I was younger. He was a horrible man and I'm glad that he's dead," Toby had nearly growled to last part as horrible memories came back from his childhood. But they were all cleared away when he remembered Mrs. Lovett.  
"But now I have someone who really is like a mum to me, she's the one who owns this shop, actually," he said and Marie smiled.  
"Good for you, Toby. Hey, would you like to go do something tonight? Something fun?" Marie asked and Toby gave her a weird look and the girl laughed. "No, silly, not like  _that,_ just some fun between friends."  
Toby breathed a sigh of relief and nodded his head with a grin.  
"I'd love to," he said, "I just have to get out of here for a while. The other occupant isn't nearly as nice as Mrs. Lovett and he's actually pretty scary if you see him up close."  
"Is he that barber I've heard so much about?" Marie asked and Toby nodded his head.  
"Most likely. He's gotten pretty popular over the years."  
Marie sighed then stood up out of the booth. "Well, come on. Let's go have some fun."  
Toby grinned and followed her out of the shop, being sure to lock the door behind him. Maybe having this girl as a friend wouldn't be so bad.


	3. A Night Out

Toby quietly hummed as he walked along the dimly lit streets with Marie who had her arm looped around his own and was leading him to an unknown location. The whole way there, she had been talking about something that had happened with one of her friends a week ago.

"So she comes up to me, crying, and starts screaming at me because apparently it's  _my fault_ she's got a bun in the oven. And I told her, "Lisa,  _you_ were the one who thought it would be a good idea to go to a bar without someone with you!" But she just kept going on and on,  _you betrayed me_ this and  _you're not my friend_ that. It was impossible to calm her down after that so she went to where the rest of 'em go."

Toby looked over, his brow furrowed. "You mean... You mean the asylum?"

"Exactly."

"What about her child?"

"She gave birth to her child there and when she did, they took it and handed it over to the people in the workhouse."

Toby winced and looked down at the road, remembering all of the horrible things that happened to him at the workhouse before Signor Pirelli had took him. But working for him was no better. The lashings, the blade on his knuckles...he still remembered all of it. Even now when he looked down at his hands, he could see the fine white lines of scars going across his knuckles. The cuts never bled long, since they were never  _that_ deep, but it still took a while for the blood to stop flowing out.

"Oi, Toby!" Marie snapped her fingers in front of Toby's face, snapping him out of whatever he had fallen into. "You alright? You looked...weird for a minute there."

"I'm fine. I was just thinking."

"Well if that's what it does to ya, then stop." Marie's voice regained its usual tone, the one that made Toby grin and snicker. "Well, now you've got me wonderin'; What were you thinking about?"

"I was thinking about your friend's kid; What it must be for them in there. Never having anyone to talk to that'll understand; Never knowing what it's like to have a family..." Toby trailed off and Marie frowned.

"Hey, don't linger on that now. I brought you along to have a good time and I'll be damned if you don't!" Marie slipped her hand down and grabbed Toby's wrist, then proceeded to pull him to one of the many pubs that were open late.

"Marie, we're not supposed to-"

"Calm down; We aren't here to drink. I have a friend that I'd like you to meet before we run off again."

Toby nervously looked around as he was pulled through the maze of tables surrounded by drunk men and women, all who seemed to have had enough to drink for one night. Maybe even a month.

He jumped when Marie elbowed him in his side and while he was busy trying to manage the subtle ache, Marie introduced him to her friend that she had mentioned.

"Toby, this is Lawrence Barrens. Lawrence, this is Tobias Ragg." Marie gently pushed Toby towards the older man sitting at one of the smaller tables towards the back.

"'Ello, Tobias," Lawrence greeted as he looked up, a bottle of beer in his hand and flushed cheeks. "How're you tonight?"

"I-I'm fine, thank you..." Toby quietly replied.

"Well sit down, please! Have a drink," Lawrence said with a grin, gesturing to the other empty chairs at the table.

"Actually, we-"

Marie cut in. "We'd love a drink, you payin'?"

"Of course I am, what do you take me for?"

"A rat bastard."

Lawrence burst out laughing, pounding his fist on the table and spilling beer onto the floor. "That's the best I've heard in two weeks! C'mon, girlie, take your friend and sit down. We'll have some beer and sing some tunes."

Marie grinned and sat down in one of the chairs, pulling Toby down with her. She sweetly smiled at Lawrence as he called for two more bottles of beer.

"Marie, I thought that we weren't here to drink," Toby whispered in the girl's ear, a worried look passing over his features. "We're both under age."

Marie snorted. "Are you telling me you've never drank before?"

"No, I'm just saying I don't do it in public where I can get myself in trouble."

They both jumped in surprise when two more bottles of beer were slammed down onto the table in front of them. Toby hesitantly reached out and timidly grabbed the beer, bringing it back to his chest.

"Tobias, calm down already. You some kind of stuck up rich boy?" Lawrence asked and Toby quickly shook his head.

"N-No. A-And it's Toby."

"Tobias sounds better to me. So deal with it, boy."

Toby looked down at the beer in his hand and quickly put the rim of his bottle to his lips, tilting his head completely back and downing a little less than half of the beverage. He slammed it back down onto the table, not even slightly affected by the alcohol. Marie and Lawrence both stared at him in shock before Marie burst out laughing.

"Now you're talking! If you keep this up, you'll be at least buzzed by the end of the night!"

Lawrence laughed and tilted his bottle at the younger man across the table. "You've earned my respect; Anyone as young as you who can hold alcohol that well deserves the highest respects."

Toby grinned and took a sip of his bottle before beginning an actual conversation about how everyone's lives have been.

"Well, my dad's working late nights again, trying to pay off debts," Marie said, sipping her beer. "There's one debt that he's been trying to pay off for months and his times almost up."

Lawrence shook his head. "Girlie, your dad needs to learn who to keep in his company and who to tell to fuck off."

Toby added something onto that. "She almost got..." He trailed off and cleared his throat. " _You know..._ Today."

The man choked on his beer and looked to the girl for confirmation. Marie nervously giggled and nodded her head.

"Oh lord... WE NEED MORE BEER OVER HERE!"

~~~

By the end of the night, Toby and Marie both had flushed faces and Lawrence was leading them out of the bar. "You know what, the two of you have had enough for tonight. Tobias, you seem to know what you're doing more than she does, so take her to your place and give her a place to sleep. You said you work at the bakery? I'll be there in the morning to pick her up."

Toby nodded his head and supported Marie with her arm around the back of his neck and his arm around her waist. "Come on, Marie, we can't stay out here all night."

Marie muttered a few things before she started stumbling along side Toby.

Toby could see the bakery within minutes and he was about to start running towards it, when someone reached out from an alley and pulled both him and Marie back into the darkness. He screamed and swung his fist, trying to connect it with  _something._ From the darkness, he could hear Marie quietly trying to protest and fight back against whoever else was there with them.

"Stop, let go of her! Don't fucking touch her, you pig!" Toby yelled.

He screamed and whimpered when his head was slammed back against the brick wall behind him.

"Feisty, just the way I like 'em," a voice whispered in his ear, cloaked with alcohol.

Toby yelped when he crotch was roughly grabbed and he prepared for the worst...but it never came. There was the sound of screaming and the hand disappeared, along with the offender. He lunged forward and grabbed for Marie, who's dress he could see thanks to the dull street light.

"Are you okay? Did he-"

"Calm down, Toby. 'M fine, kay?" Marie slurred and slumped against the taller boy.

A voice spoke out from the darkness. "Toby, I hope you know Mrs. Lovett will be hearing about this."

Deeply breathing in, Toby's world began to blur and he stumbled back against the wall, still holding onto Marie who was already passed out against him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look who's kind of alive! :D I'm sorry I haven't updated on this story as much lately, I've had some family problems and I've been trying to get better grades in school.


	4. The Morning After

Toby slowly cracked one eye opened and hissed as the sun shone directly in it. He went to turn to the side to get his face away from the blinding light, but he found that his right arm was stuck under something heavy. Slowly looking over, he saw that it was Marie who was holding his arm in place.

"Excuse me," he mumbled, looking over at Marie, "it seems that you're on my arm and it just so happens, as well, that I need it."

"Get me food," Marie replied, narrowing her eyes at Toby.

"I can't do that without my arm."

Marie groaned and slowly rolled over, releasing Toby's arm and allowing the boy to get up.

"There," Marie grumbled, " _now_ get me food."

Toby narrowed his eyes at the girl curled up under his covers, but instead of arguing, he turned on his heel and made his way out of the room and down into the kitchen; he badly wanted to be defiant, but he was starving, as well.

As he was looking through the food that he could possibly bring back upstairs to appease Marie's intense hunger, the familiar sound of a blade being drawn sounded from behind him, and he whirled around to see Sweeney standing against the far wall, just by the door.

"G'mornin', Toby. Have a fun night last night?" Sweeney asked, venom dripping from every word.

Toby's mouth suddenly became very dry and he felt his body begin to tremble in fear.

"I-It j-just so happens, th-that I did," he stuttered in reply, trying to make it seem like he wasn't trembling in fear under the older man's gaze.

"Oh, really now?" Sweeney asked, his voice now calm, but still as terrifying as ever.

"Was it fun when you knowingly went into a pub to drink, despite being underage? How about when you left the shop unsupervised? Oh, and this just came to me, nearly got molested by a bunch of drunkards!?"

With every word, Sweeney slowly made his way over to the boy.

"N-No!" Toby shouted, backing up against the counter as much as he could.

"Okay, than just  _what_ was so  _fun_ about it?" Sweeney shouted, storming up to Toby and placing the blade against his exposed throat.

Unable to say anything, Toby just stared up at the man with his mouth agape and his eyes wide and full of fear. They locked eyes for a moment and something sparked, something that neither of them expected. With a small growl, Sweeney slowly pulled his blade away from Toby's throat and the boy quickly slipped by the man, ran out the door, and ran down to the bake house where all of the meat pies were kept.

He grabbed a few pies from the oven and ran back out but instead of running through the shop, he ran upstairs, through Sweeney's work place, and into the hall where his room and a few extra rooms were. He ran in and Marie looked up from where she was glaring at a tear in her dress.

"Did you get the food?" she asked and Toby nodded his head.

"Yes, I did. I also got a blade to the throat."

Marie cocked an eyebrow. "A blade to the throat? What do you mean?"

"I mean, the crazy barber could've easily sliced my throat open while I was down there."

Marie rolled her eyes. "Stop being dramatic. Now give me a pie."

Toby tossed a pie at the girl and she caught it, and a large grin spread across her face

"Pleasure doin' business with ya, Tobias."

"What business? I got nothing out of this."

"...I'll keep quiet about what happened last night and what you told me!"

Toby was taken back. What was this girl talking about now? What had he said?

"What did I say?" he asked, pulling a snicker out of Marie.

She quickly swallowed the piece of pie she had bitten off and maliciously grinned at Toby.

"Oh, just that you had the  _worst_ kind of  _infatuation_ with the Demon Barber of Fleet Street."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY THAT I'VE BEEN GONE FOR FOREVER
> 
> I had to handle a few serious things with my life and I spent a ton of time watching Sweeney Todd and gathering information for this very story right here. Anywhore, I'm out of my writing slump and you can expect a few more chapters before I take another break for my DC trip next month!


End file.
